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Explain irregular verb groups and key exceptions to learn visualisation

Explain irregular verb groups and key exceptions to learn

Navigate French Verb Conjugations: Your Definitive Guide: Explain irregular verb groups and key exceptions to learn
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Irregular verbs in English do not follow the regular pattern of adding “-ed” for the past tense and past participle forms. These verbs are often grouped based on similarities in their past forms and past participles.

Irregular Verb Groups

  1. Completely irregular verbs: These verbs have unique past tense and past participle forms that do not follow a pattern. Examples include “be” (was/were, been), “do” (did, done), and “go” (went, gone).

  2. The write-wrote-written group: Verbs where the past tense and past participle often end in “-en” but have an irregular vowel change, such as “write” (wrote, written), “choose” (chose, chosen), and “drive” (drove, driven).

  3. The fly-flew-flown group: Similar vowel changes and the past participle formed with “-n” or “-en”. Examples include “fly” (flew, flown), “grow” (grew, grown), and “know” (knew, known).

  4. The come-came-come group: These verbs have the same base and past participle forms but an irregular simple past, such as “come” (came, come) and “run” (ran, run).

  5. The begin-began-begun group: Verbs with irregular past forms often ending in “-an” and past participles unique, like “begin” (began, begun), “sing” (sang, sung), and “swim” (swam, swum).

  6. The get-got-got group: Verbs with the same past and past participle form, often with vowel changes, such as “get” (got, got), “buy” (bought, bought), and “fight” (fought, fought).

  7. The put-put-put group: Verbs with the same form in all three places, e.g., “put” (put, put), “cut” (cut, cut), and “hit” (hit, hit).

Key Exceptions and Confusions

  • Some verbs have multiple acceptable past participle forms (e.g., “got” vs. “gotten”).
  • Some verbs have past participles that look like adjectives (e.g., “broken” from “break”).
  • There are verbs that are easily confused due to similar spelling but different meanings and forms like “lay” (put down) and “lie” (recline).
  • Common irregular verbs include frequent verbs like “be,” “have,” “go,” “take,” “see,” and “come,” which often do not follow predictable patterns.

Grouping irregular verbs by these patterns helps in learning them because it reduces the number of unique forms needing memorization and helps spot patterns in vowel changes or form repetition across forms. 2, 4

References

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